391 Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 14:09:11 -0800
From: Bugs Bunny <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
I wonder if anyone has experienced a different dance during an evening?
Lots of people know some Swing, Salsa a bit less. I'm curious if a Waltz has
ever been tried (a slower version than Tango of course, say 100 bpm or so).
I've also seen 2 couples physically/horizontally land on the dance floor
here locally, attempting some really difficult, off-balance moves...
Rick Anderson
Portland, OR
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 00:48:03 +0000
From: Bruce Stephens <bruce@CENDERIS.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
Bugs Bunny <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:
> I wonder if anyone has experienced a different dance during an
> evening? Lots of people know some Swing, Salsa a bit less. I'm
> curious if a Waltz has ever been tried (a slower version than Tango
> of course, say 100 bpm or so).
A couple of milongas locally (that is, in London, UK) play the
occasional salsa or milonga. There's one which (apparently, anyway)
often plays non-tango music to which people often dance either the
dance which matches the music, or tango/milonga/vals. Swing probably
wouldn't work well here---I'd guess salsa is way more popular, even in
London (which has quite a bit of swing, I believe).
I don't know of anywhere which plays slower waltz, but I'd guess it
would work OK at the right time in the evening; it ought to be fairly
easy to tango to most waltzes.
[...]
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 16:14:14 +1000
From: John Lowry <john@LOWRYHART.COM.AU>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
>Bugs Bunny writes: I wonder if anyone has experienced a different dance
during an
> evening?
At El Morocco in BsAs they played a range of ballroom dance during the
cortinas, including waltz, foxtrot, quickstep. It suited the style of the
place and the age group. At our milongas (in Brisbane, Australia), we break
the tango/milonga/valz brackets with Latin dances including bolero, slow
samba etc, because most of our dancers are also Latin dancers.
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 06:45:32 -0800
From: Marisa Holmes <mariholmes@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
I have been in community where entire tandas of salsa
were routinely offerred after every three or four
tandas of tangos. Sometimes a tanda of valses or
milongas came instead of the salsa. I always found
the reaction of the dancers kind of funny. Many of
them often sat around not dancing through the tangos,
but as soon as something more lively (or in the case
of valses, more romantic) was played they rushed onto
the floor with expressions of delight. I kept
thinking that the group as a whole should be doing
salsa instead, since they didn't like tango as well.
Or maybe, that they just didn't like the dj's tango
tandas (although there was such a great variety it is
hard to imagine they didn't like all of them). Of
course,it was a group with several members (including
the instructor) who affected the 'classic tango'
attitude of only dancing when the perfect song or the
perfect partner was available - an attitude I am sure
works well in Buenos Aires if you can dance every
night of the week and be a connoisseur and have danced
for years, but which strikes me as simply
self-important and foolish in a situation where you
have one opportunity a week to dance and relatively
inexperienced dancers.
Marisa
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 10:49:30 -0500
From: Manuel Patino <white95r@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
The choice music and the manner of breaks varies depending on the character
of the milonga's organizer and/or DJ. Even in Bs As, I've seen everything
from sets of "folklore" to swing, salsa cumbia or merengue to snippets of
totally un-danceable music played for a few seconds. I have also noticed
that whenever salsa, swing or other music is played, the dance floor fills
up. Some folks really enjoy dancing a variety of dances and the chance to
express one's self with other rhythms is welcome.
In years past, the tropical rhythms were not accepted in the "South"
(Argentina, Uruguay). They were thought by some to be "lower class" music.
In recent years the Salsa, Cumbia and Merengue have become quite popular
with the younger people in Argentina and Uruguay (as well as the rest of the
world). You can now observe quite accomplished dancers do their stuff to the
sounds of salsa, etc. during the breaks in milongas everywhere.
There are also milongas where nothing but tangos (plus vals, milongas) are
played. There are also quite a number of tango dancers (particularly outside
of Argentina) who seem to despise the tropical music rhythms. I suspect it
is because they do not know how to dance Salsa, etc. I personally enjoy
immensely the Salsa, etc. breaks in a milonga. However, I don't like it when
they play Foxtrot, Quick Step or even the so called "Latin" rhythms of the
Ballroom style of dance. This is because I do not know how to do those
dances well, and I have to sit out while others enjoy it ;-)
Fortunately (for me), the "ballroom" dances are rarely played during breaks
at milongas, and I like Salsa, Swing, etc. a lot. Also, I can dance tango,
vals and milongas all night too, so for me, it is not the genre of music
that affects my enjoyment as it is the actual choice of specific songs.
Unfortunately, there are DJs out there whose choice of tangos (and
everything else) tends to be not to my liking. I'll definitely sit out when
the music does not move me, same thing if I'm not really motivated by a
particular choice of partners. It is not that I must have everything
"perfect", but sometimes the inspiration to dance just isn't there at that
particular moment. There have been a few times (very few, thanks goodness)
when I actually thought I would have been better off not going to a
particular milonga (when I thought that the music really sucked).
In places where there are lots of choices, one can be quite selective and
only go where one likes. Unfortunately, in smaller cities or places where
the tango scene is still small, one either goes to whatever is available or
does not go dancing. It is crucially important for DJs and organizers in the
smaller tango scenes to be knowledgeable of good music and to have a decent
selection to play at their milongas. Also, the particular bias or preference
of the DJ or organizer in a small place will set the tone and become the
model for all dancers from that particular place. This is where often times
they'll play non-tango music and try to dance tango to it or where certain
types of music breaks are always or never played. When faced with this, one
either learns to like whats offered, suffers through it or gives up
altogether (or goes on tango vacations to wondeful places :-)).
Manuel
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 21:56:12 +1000
From: A Athanassiou & A B Reid <athanass@OZEMAIL.COM.AU>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
At our local dance every Sunday, we always break up the Tango sets with a
single track of Bosa Nova, Bolero, Gaffiera or an occasional Salsa. These
breaks always seem to work well and they have the added bonus of clearly
defining the Tango brackets.
Arthur/Brisbane
Bugs Bunny <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM> writes:
> I wonder if anyone has experienced a different dance during an
> evening? Lots of people know some Swing, Salsa a bit less. I'm
> curious if a Waltz has ever been tried (a slower version than Tango
> of course, say 100 bpm or so).
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:50:00 EST
From: Clifton Chow <TangoPassionMoon@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
Hi Fellow Tangueros (as),
To this discussion I just want to add that whichever type of music one
chooses as a break from Tango but longer than a cortinata (usually few
seconds), I suggest playing no more than 2 consecutive numbers before
returning to Tango. At some recent milongas in North America I witnessed
nearly 30 minutes of swing and salsa occuring about 10:30pm (on a Saturday
night milonga) before Tango music returned. That's just too long. For those
who don't know how to dance to the other music, they simply sat and looked on
unpleasantly. I'd rather shorter sequences played twice (and at most, 3
times) in the evening rather than a continous block extending beyond 5
minutes.
Cheers,
Clifton de Boston
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 07:47:57 EST
From: Leonardo De Leon <TangoLeon@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
Date: Wed, 9 Jan 2002 14:09:11 -0800
From: Bugs Bunny <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
I wonder if anyone has experienced a different dance during an evening?
Lots of people know some Swing, Salsa a bit less. I'm curious if a Waltz has
ever been tried (a slower version than Tango of course, say 100 bpm or so).
Rick Anderson
Portland, OR
I program milonga music in Urbana, IL. In a 3 hr milonga I typically insert 2
tandas of non tango music. These are each 3-4 songs. To be true to the Latin
American origins of tango, I use 'otra musica latina' for these tandas, i.e.,
songs sung in Spanish or, if instrumental, performed by a Latin band. I
almost always include one salsa, usually a merengue, often a swing in these
tandas. These are the dances most people dance. (For swing with a Latin
flavor, try 'Rock en espan~ol', e.g., many from Alejandra Guzman, Shakira's
'Donde estan los ladrones' and Gloria Trevi's 'Zapatos viejos'.) However, we
have a large ballroom dance contingent and so I try to include other types of
dance music. The cha-chas, rumbas, boleros, and sambas are other obvious
choices with a Latin flavor. Mexican polkas also work well, particularly
before or after a tanda of milongas. (By the way, Quinteto Pirincho's
"Recuerdos" is a polka.) Less obvious are Latin music for dancing night club
2-step (Chayanne's 'Solamente tu amor' is fabulously passionate and blends in
well with tango) and hustle (several from Fey, Shakira's 'Estoy aqui'). I
have not used slow waltz, foxtrot, or quickstep, because these are rarely
sung in Spanish or performed by a Latin band (although I've recently
discovered some vintage big band era music from Mexico that might work).
Of course, these tandas are mainly a break to re-energize or transition of
moods between tandas of tango. Two of these about 15 minutes long is enough
for a 3 hour milonga. This is about the same as what I've experienced in
Chicago (where they also sometimes play bachata.)
Leonardo
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 00:43:14 -0800
From: Bugs Bunny <bugsbunny1959@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Salsa/Swing breaks during dance
FWIW, a slower waltz (slower than a Viennese tempo) isn't only a ballroom
dance, we also do it Country-Western dancing as well as during the middle &
end of the evening at our local contra dances...
Rick Anderson
Portland, OR
